Cape students attend Hollywood High

Sunday

Feb 28, 2010 at 2:00 AMFeb 28, 2010 at 6:47 AM

SOUTH YARMOUTH — Seated around tables at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, a corrupt official whispered with a Kobe Bryant fan while a couple of teens with dreams of visiting California waited with a school counselor.

HEATHER WYSOCKI

SOUTH YARMOUTH — Seated around tables at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, a corrupt official whispered with a Kobe Bryant fan while a couple of teens with dreams of visiting California waited with a school counselor.

Then "Cut!" was called, and they went back to being Harwich High School students.

The 11 members of the school's Alternative Learning Program spent last week trading their textbooks for scripts through a partnership between the center and Hollywood HEART, a nonprofit that introduces at-risk kids across the country to the moviemaking business.

"This is a very different type of classroom for them," said Lauren Wolk, associate director of the cultural center.

Hollywood HEART's goal is to introduce students to an experience they normally wouldn't have, said executive director Lisa Cavanaugh. The project "will maybe open up some possibilities they wouldn't consider," she said.

After board member Nora O'Brien died in April 2009, Hollywood HEART wanted to honor her by hosting projects in her native New England.

"We received a lot of donations in her name," said Hollywood HEART program director Christine Rodriguez. The group also hosted a Movie Team project in Dorchester.

Cavanaugh, who lives in South Yarmouth, was looking for another location and visited the cultural center last summer.

"The next thing you know she's asking if we'd like to be a part of the Movie Team," Wolk said.

Harwich High's ALP program was chosen to participate due to its small size, Wolk said, and because teachers had previously approached her to provide some art education for Harwich ALP's students.

"Some students get opportunities like this all the time," said Wolk. But "this group does not have access to any of that."

ALP at Harwich High School is a combination of traditional classroom learning and afternoon vocational work or internships, said program director and lead teacher George Sowpell. Students spend mornings at school and afternoons at jobs in the community, leaving little time for enrichment education in subjects like art.

Beginning last Monday, the students met each morning with professional production workers and volunteers from the community, who provided information on Hollywood moviemaking from camerawork to costume design.

The group played teambuilding games, did script-writing exercises and brainstormed the characters they wanted to play in "Everyday Struggles," their short film about corruption in a small town.

Projects like this are nontraditional, said Sowpell, but they fit in perfectly with the ALP's state-mandated curriculum. Students must learn literature concepts including setting, theme and character, all introduced through Hollywood HEART's developmental games.

"We can do this through a textbook, or we can do it here," he said.

After the script was written, students had two days to prepare for filming.

On Friday, "actors" gathered around tables waiting for their cues, adjusted microphones and practiced lines while production workers, professionals who recently worked on Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island," called out directions and filmed.

The Hollywood HEART filming experience is authentic, if a little rushed, said Cavanaugh, even featuring a "premiere" of the film at 7:30 tonight.

What takes months of work and millions of dollars in Los Angeles was done in one week on a budget of $4,500, provided by a donation from benefactor Joan Bentinck-Smith of Cotuit and proceeds from a recent cultural center event.

"This was hectic in a good way," said Wolk, "and worth every penny."

"I've really enjoyed how the students have changed in just four days," said cultural center President Caryn Ritchie. "It's like you're opening a different world."

Wolk and Ritchie said many of the students were hesitant at the beginning of the week but grew more comfortable with the filming process as the week went on.

Even students with challenging circumstances were made to feel comfortable, said Sowpell, including new mom Jodi Hindle, 18.

After a short break to take care of 6-week-old son Jordan, who came to the set with his mother, Hindle's first day back to school was at the cultural center, a challenge she said made returning even more daunting.

"I'm the shyest, quietest person you'll ever meet," Hindle said as she switched costumes to get ready for her next scene as a timid counselor. "I'm so nervous when it comes to this stuff."

According to Hindle, learning lines was a challenge, "but I'm doing better than I thought I would," she said. "I'm learning to trust myself."

Reactions like Hindle's are why Wolk hopes to bring the Harwich ALP students back on a regular basis for lessons in poetry, photography and other fields.

"It's been a whole week of seeing the kids bloom," she said. "These kids have learned they can do anything they want, given a little guidance, encouragement and some respect."